I can't do one unless I've been drinking

I studied with Arabs for over a year and a half and I still have a very hard time doing my accent at faire... It's a hard thing to do especailly when everyone around you is speaking in BFA or their equivalent.

One thing Marjhani told me was to preface everything with "How do you say..." or "As the English say..." and just say it with out an accent like you're trying to replicate their accent.

Hope that helps..

There is a great series of cd's out that come with a booklet called "Acting with an Accent" I use them for the Commedia. They are very easy and it will help you create a perfect accent. They have them at Samuel French Bookstore - or - you can get them online

www.amazon.com/Acting-Acc...414-6893543

This is for the Arabic one. But it is a good general one to start with.

"My best friend did a whole paper on "Ren Speak" and accents that Ren Faire people do that spills into their mundane lives."

I have to say that this phenomenon involves more than just the difference in the way the words are pronounced. To speak well in accent, one not only needs to master that, but also the syntax, word order, etc. that sets that accent off from our own Southern Californian way of talking. THAT seems to be the biggest carryover, for me. I recently had someone point it out to me--that it was something that set my mundane speech apart.

By the way, concentrating on developing the characteristic differences in the more subtle aspects of the spoken language (such as the ones I mentioned above) you are trying to emulate will go a long way in making you sound like you are speaking in accent, even if you need time to master the difference in pronunciation. Sort of the "Fake it 'til you make it" approach.